Business owners help bring pond back to life

GREENLAND — Two local business owners teamed up to restore Cannery Pond, a lost environmental resource in town.

By Karen Dandurant

seacoastonline.com

By Karen Dandurant

Posted Mar. 15, 2008 at 2:00 AM

By Karen Dandurant
Posted Mar. 15, 2008 at 2:00 AM

» Social News

GREENLAND — Two local business owners teamed up to restore Cannery Pond, a lost environmental resource in town.

Advanced Concrete Technologies Inc. and Holloway Mercedes Benz proprietors used their own time and resources to repair the Cannery Pond dam, located at Packer Brook.

Paul Holloway is a longtime area businessman whose newest dealership is located on Portsmouth Avenue (Route 33). ACT is a new company in town, having recently completed the construction of its corporate headquarters and training facility at 300 Portsmouth Ave., almost directly across the street from Holloway's business. Cannery Pond is on the ACT property.

Max Hoene, president of ACT, joked that repairing the small dam and restoring the pond began to feel like they were building the Hoover Dam.

After unsuccessful initiatives by previous property owners to repair the breached dam, ACT and Holloway were successful in securing the required permits for the work thanks to their commitment to and cooperation with N.H. Department of Fish and Game, the Department of Environmental Services and the New Hampshire Dam Bureau.

"We had a lot of 'dam' board meetings, just to get this done," joked Hoene. "The dam has been breached many times over the years. This last time, it was the April storm of last year that did it. The pond was completely gone. This time, the way we built it, the dam will not breach again."

The work was done by AMSCO of Londonderry. The new dam is constructed and reinforced with deep sheet pile driven 16 feet below grade. A new concrete weir spillway cap has also been created to cascade water downstream into a natural brook channel.

According to historical information provided by Robin Holloway, Paul Holloway's wife and business partner, the Cannery Pond took its name from the Saco Valley Canning Company, originally located adjacent to the pond at the turn of the 20th century.

The canning factory was a seasonal employer in the town of Greenland, canning primarily corn and other vegetables up until around 1930.

The dam naturally breached around that time and Greenland town records show the community had voted to budget a sum of $200 to repair the breached dam for the purpose of reestablishing a fire protection pond for surrounding houses. Town residents may remember the pond had been the site of many local fishing tournaments.

Hoene said he met Paul Holloway and his service manager, Michael Baillargeon, when both were getting building permits for the construction of their new buildings in town.

"Mike mentioned Paul was interested in revitalizing the pond," said Hoene. "We bought the property knowing we wanted to revitalize it. Since relocating and building new headquarters here in Greenland, we have tried to do all we can to be responsible neighbors to the community around us. The project was completed with minimal impact to the wonderfully rich ecosystem surrounding the brook itself, and the resulting new Cannery Pond will be home to indigenous wildlife once again."

Since news has spread of the ACT and Holloway initiative to restore the pond, plans by local youth groups are already under way to use the new pond for ice skating and hockey.

"We want to do some landscaping in the spring and remove a lot of brush that's there now,' said Hoene. "Youth groups wanting to use it for ice skating or hockey games can use it, no problem."